Postcrossing Blog

February is just around the corner… which means it’s time for another Month of Letters challenge! Are you in? :)

On September 2011, Mary Robinette Kowal decided it was time for a break. She spent the entire month offline, and asked her friends to communicate with her through letters. The results of this personal challenge were a revelation:

When I write back, I find that I slow down and write differently than I do with an email. Email is all about the now. Letters are different, because whatever I write needs to be something that will be relevant a week later to the person to whom I am writing. In some ways it forces me to think about time more because postal mail is slower. “By the time you get this…” It is relaxing. It is intimate. It is both lasting and ephemeral.

How so? I find that I will often read the letters that I receive twice. Once when I get them and again as I write back. So, that makes it more lasting. It is more ephemeral because I don’t have copies of the letters that I write and I am the only one who has copies of the letters that my correspondents write. So, more ephemeral.

I know a lot of postcrossers share these feelings – this is part of the reason why Postcrossing exists!

Mary’s decided to turn February into a Month of Letters, in which she challenges herself and everyone who decides do join to write and send at least a piece of postal mail every day. Here are the rules:

Mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

We can’t help but feeling postcrossers have their work cut out for them in this challenge… :) Nevertheless, we wanted to dare you all to do it! Write postcards, letters or aerogrammes or surprise a friend with an unexpected package. Maybe even pick a Facebook/Twitter friend and send them with an offline “hello!”.

Are you up to Mary’s challenge? Grab your stationery and stamps and start writing! :)

Did you know we have a Facebook page and a Twitter account? It’s where we (and you!) share any postal goodies and snippets we stumble across throughout the day. It’s also where many members share their photos of what they’ve received that day… or what they do with the postcards afterwards! In the past few years, we’ve come to realize that many of you had very real postcard walls in your homes… so here are a few of them! :)

Danny2105 in Germany is almost running out of space on her huge blue wall…

Need inspiration for sunny dreams? Honey-b from Czech Republic found the perfect solution!

magdziolka in Poland has an expanding burst of color in her orange wall… and a very cute dog!

AnnSmailikova in Ukraine made rows of creativity on her walls!

And lastly, Marrijam from Germany crafted this sweet display with strings and pegs. We like the fact that it’s the messages that are on display! :)

Got a postcard wall of your own? Planning to make one? Do share! :)

Remember Art Unlimited, the Dutch postcard publisher with a passion for pictures?

They’re still going strong and their collection keeps getting better and better. Whether you’re into Dutch classics like Dick Bruna or Fiep Westendorp… or grand masters like Monet or Rembrandt… or perhaps you just really like umbrellas, alphabets or parrots? No matter how specific your taste, if it’s art, they probably have it! :)

They know postcrossers love their postcards, so they’ve decided to generously sponsor this weekend’s giveaway with 4 packs of 10 postcards each (from the sets below)!

To win one of these sets, visit Art Unlimited’s website and leave a comment below, telling us which postcard (or series) you liked the best! You can use the search box on the sidebar to browse their huge collection by keyword or artist. :)

Check back on this post around this time next week for the winners (randomly picked by Paulo’s number generator).

We’ve had the pleasure of meeting LadyP1964 (aka Penelope) on several Postcrossing meetups. She has a bubbly personality and a contagious laughter that cheers everyone up! :)

Here is what she had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I used to play “Human Pets” (a Facebook game) and auctioned off postcards to get points to feed my pets (something you will only understand if you were a pet yourself). Someone there told me about Postcrossing – I have to admit though, that I don’t remember who.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is my postman Michael:

And here’s one of my postcard walls:

And you can see my meetup photos on this gallery.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I have just looked through my complete collection (which is here btw) and I really cannot decide which is my most favourite card. I think I often have a favourite card received this week but of all time? Impossible! There are only few cards which I don’t like. Most of those can be found in my “others” album but that doesn’t mean that all cards in my “others” album are not liked. Sometimes people send me cards that don’t fit into any of my normal collection categories but I still think they are great. They are the cards that end up landing on my postcard walls. I have postcard walls in my kitchen and in my ironing room (I’m sure many men will joke and say that’s where we women spend most of our time – in my case its true, but mainly because that’s where my postcards are!)

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Job, partner, teenager, dog, cat and I organise a travelling envelope group on the Postcrossing forums – doesn’t actually leave much time for other hobbies.

I do like to visit new places and I have discovered that Postcrossing helps me there too. I like to go to meetups in various towns. That way I get to see new towns, meet postcrossers and buy postcards to swap with others.

I love playing various board games too and a whole group of friends get together every 6 weeks at each others houses to have a games evening.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

Yes, a friend of a friend asked about my collection and after browsing through it, she signed up to Postcrossing and also joined me at the meeting in Würzburg last year. Her username is barfusstramperin.

My son got slightly addicted too. His Postcrossing name is Pixelpups. He sometimes joins me at meetups and that’s when he pulls his addresses to send. His cards are all stuck to his wardrobe:

Have you met any other members in real life?

I have met several postcrossers before as I have attended meetups in Würzburg, Nürnberg, Köln, Frankfurt and Bielefeld. I have had mini-meetings in Mainz, Berlin, Luxembourg, Salzburg, Bad Schwartau and Wiesbaden. In fact, once I had a mini-meeting somewhere on the motorway near Kassel. I stopped off on my journey for a cup of coffee and posted “I’m here” on Facebook. Another postcrosser replied within minutes that she worked up the road from where I was and would be with me in 5 minutes.

A looong time ago, we shared some tips about postcard sets that were available online. They’re cheap, great quality and quite handy when you need a bit of variety… or for when your local bookshop has run out of nice postcards! :)

Lately, we’ve seen a lot of new and exciting editions on the market, which means it’s time for a fresh roundup! The choice is rather overwhelming, so to narrow it down, we decided to focus on reasonably priced boxes of 100 postcards. Here are some of our current favorites that we thought you might like:

• House Industries 100 Postcards
• The Art of Pixar, Volume II: 100 Collectible Postcards
• The Impossible Project Spectrum Collection: 100 Instant-Film Postcards
• Live the Life You Love Postcard Box: 100 Hand-Lettered Postcards

• Sibley Backyard Birding Postcards: 100 Postcards
• Postcards From Puffin: 100 Book Covers in One Box
• Postcards from The New Yorker: One Hundred Covers from Ten Decades
• Paris versus New York Postcard Box: A Tally of Two Cities in 100 Postcards

• From the Desk of Jane Austen: 100 Postcards
• Doctor Who Postcards from Time and Space (our absolute favorite!)
• One Hundred Writers in One Box: Postcards from Penguin Modern Classics
• The Art of Classic Comics: 100 Postcards fom the Fabulous 1950s

Typography goodness, photos, magazine covers, illustration, children and grown-up themes… there’s something for everyone, and they’re a steal! :)

Got any favorites of your own? Do share your tips in the comments!